Question 1

How and when do I get the Digital Products?

Accepted Answer

As soon as an online payment is received, a confirmation email is sent to you with a download link. (The link also appears on the Thank You page.)

All you need to do then is click on the link to download your product! 
The link will be valid for 30 days

Question 2

I've noticed you've added NAM captures to your packs. If I've previously bought a pack will that be a free update?

Accepted Answer

Yes!  If you've purchased the pedal previously, we'll email you with a coupon code that will enable you to download the new pack for free.

Question 3

Can I try a pedal out before purchasing?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! Every pedal will have at least one capture available for free on IK Multimedia’s wonderful ToneNET platform. Alternatively, you can download our ‘Free Flavours’ pack. This can be found in the ‘Free’ section of our website.

Question 4

What is in the 'Free Flavours’ pack?

Accepted Answer

This pack contains free captures of all of our pedals in one convenient zip file so you can try them out before purchase. Every time there is a pedal added to the site this Zip file will be updated so please feel free to download it as many times as you want.

Question 5

If I can get free captures why would I buy the full pedal?

Accepted Answer

Well, if you’re happy with the free captures then they might be all you need. We’re good with that. Enjoy!

Question 6

Are .tpx files big?

Accepted Answer

Nope, they’re tiny! 38kb per capture! And yes, that’s a kb and not a mb. We don’t know how IK Multimedia manage to do that but we’re certainly glad that they do!

Question 7

What do the numbers mean on your .tpx files?

Accepted Answer

G6 T5 means that the Gain is on 6 and that the tone is on 5. This is a 0 to 10 numbering system rather than a ‘clock face system’. If you’re more familiar with the latter, a setting of 5 is the equivalent of noon.

Question 8

Why don’t you use flowery language in your production descriptions and/or preset names?

Accepted Answer

That tends to influence people and we really don’t want to tell you what to like, what not to like and how you should sound.

Question 9

How would you recommend trying out the captures of a pedal?

Accepted Answer

Everybody’s different but we tend to start with the capture that has it’s gain and tone on 5 (that’s noon) listen to the flavour of the pedal and then decide what we need more or less of.

Question 10

Can I request some more captures for a pedal?

Accepted Answer

Of course! If you feel something is missing, let us know and we’ll do our best to fill that gap. We’ll then add those as an update to the pedal. Try to be mindful about how long this takes though! Flicking the ‘asymmetrical diode’ switch on the inside of a KingTone Duellist will result in 324 new profiles. That’s roughly 6 x 12 hour days of relentless capturing! We’re not saying that we won’t do it but you might need to be patient…

Question 11

Are pedal updates free?

Accepted Answer

Within reason, yes. If we add extra captures to a pedal that you’ve already purchased, we’ll send them to you for free.

Question 12

Can I request specific pedals?

Accepted Answer

Please do! Let us know what you’d like to see next and we’ll do our best to source and capture the pedal.

Question 13

What equipment do you use to capture?

Accepted Answer

After a great deal of experimentation, we’ve settled on an Undertone Audio GB Tracker for reamp and DI duties and we feed that into Steinberg’s flagship AXR4 audio interface. We use short runs of Mogami 3368 cables to connect everything. It’s a simple, ultra high-quality, transparent signal path.

Question 14

Do you use outboard preamps?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely not! We have multiple API and Neve flavoured preamps but we don’t want the sound to be coloured in anyway so we don’t use them. Watch out for our captures of these in the future though!

Question 15

Do you use the advanced or default settings in Tonex?

Accepted Answer

We’ve experimented with both (and continue to do so) but we’ve found that the advanced settings tend to add something to the low end of the captures (around 60-70hz) that isn’t there in the ‘real’ pedals. This low end bump isn’t unappealing but it isn’t as authentic so we tend to avoid advanced and stick to the default setting in Tonex.

Question 16

I’ve heard that Fuzz pedals can’t be captured. How have you managed to do it?

Accepted Answer

Well, in reality, some fuzz pedals work and some don’t. So, we haven’t managed it with every pedal! That doesn't mean that we won't keep trying though...

Question 17

Are you going to add more pedals to the site?

Accepted Answer

Yes, regularly!  Check out the 'In the Pipeline' section for an idea of what's coming. If you'd like us to prioritise any of those just drop us a message and we'll get cracking.

Question 18

How long does it take to capture a pedal?

Accepted Answer

For a typical 3 knob overdrive, it takes us around 12 hours to do 54 captures of the pedal. More complicated pedals take a lot longer.

Question 19

Given how long it takes, how do you manage to capture so many pedals?

Accepted Answer

Well, there’s not a lot of sleep and when it does happen there are a lot of pedal related dreams! (That’s not as pleasant as it sounds!) But, our way around this is to run two (occasionally three) independent capturing systems at once.

Question 20

Some of the settings on these pedals sound awful! Why is that?

Accepted Answer

That’s how they sound in the ‘real’ world! Our approach is to capture a wide range of sounds from the pedal because what works for one person might not work for the next. Also, every guitar, amp and stomp combination is going to be different so it’s probably best to have most bases covered…

Question 21

Why don’t you have settings for the volume controls?

Accepted Answer

All of the patches are around the same volume for the sake of consistency. We feel that how loud or quiet you want the stomp to be in your chain is your call.

Question 22

There are too many captures for each pedal! I only use a handful and don’t need the rest.

Accepted Answer

We’ve certainly found that we tend to gravitate to a handful of settings per pedal so we simply delete the presets that we don’t think we’ll use – we can always add them again at a later date if we feel that we need something extra.

Question 23

Could you explain how you price your pedals?

Accepted Answer

Yes. We don’t believe in the price of our captures reflecting the ‘real’ world price that you would pay for the actual pedal - we are very much from the ‘if it sounds good it is good’ school of thought. So, the price of our pedals reflect the amount of captures taken. The maths are flawed but a general rule of thumb is: 25 or less captures £3 (normally one or two knob pedals) around 50 captures £5 (simple, three knob pedals) approximately 75 captures £6 (four knob pedals) 100 captures £7 (pedals with two switches such as a Keeley Modded DS-1) and a 150 captures £8 (pedals with three switches such as the Duke of Tone).

Question 24

Can I share these pedals with my friends?

Accepted Answer

Please don’t! We can’t stop you, of course, but we’ve priced these as fairly as possible in the hope that most people will do the right thing. Saying that, if your friend genuinely can’t afford to buy their own pedal then that’s a different matter…

Question 25

Wow! Does anybody actually need to buy physical pedals anymore?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely! Our captures are detailed and sound like the real thing but there is a limit to the amount of captures for each pedal. That’s not an issue in the ‘real’ world where you can fine tune a ‘real’ pedal till your heart’s content.

Also, whilst we hope that you get real joy from our captures, we also hope that, by trying lot’s of different captures, you’re encouraged to buy the real thing in an informed way…